Text Size

-

+

reset

“If not now, when? We keep putting it off,” Powell said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” on Friday. “At the beginning of President [George W.] Bush’s administration, I was the secretary of state and we were moving on this, and then 9/11 threw it off track. But sufficient time has passed so that we should all understand by now that we are an immigrant nation. We are fueled with every new wave of immigrant who comes to this country.”

The retired four-star general said one of the first places to start is passing the DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who complete schooling or military service in the U.S.

“The DREAM Act should be a no-brainer,” Powell said. “I think we really have to buckle down and do something about immigration reform and do it as quickly as we can.”

Powell said he would reiterate comments he’s made in the past that a “dark vein of intolerance” runs through the GOP.

“There are certain elements within the party which go out of their way to demonize people who don’t look like the way they’d like them to look like, or who came from some other place,” Powell said. “They came out of last year’s election with a lot of ideas about how they were going to make themselves a little more acceptable, and yet you see things happening. You see members of the party and senior levels making statements about women, making statements about minorities that once again make the party look less tolerant than it should be.”

Powell also criticized Republicans for pushing policies that make voting more difficult, saying that long lines in the 2012 election in Florida show that when people are told they can’t vote, it makes them turn out even stronger.

But the Bush appointee said despite his endorsement of President Barack Obama and his criticism of the GOP, he’s still a Republican.

“I’m still a Republican, and I think the Republican Party needs me more than the Democratic Party needs me,” Powell said. “And you can be a Republican and still feel strongly about issues such as immigration and improving our education system and doing something about some of the social problems that exist in our society and our country.”

Powell said the focus on 2016 elections was misguided, and urged citizens to make change themselves.

“Everybody is focusing on 2014, 2016, and I don’t think that Superman or Superwoman is coming in 2016,” Powell said. “If you want to do something about the lack of civility in this country, it’s the super people who are going to change it, not whoever the next president is. We the people have to start pushing back on all of the incivility that exists in our society, especially in our media, and we also have to start listening to other sides.”